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Developing 'generic' recommendation letters for every school [#permalink]

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25 Nov 2006, 17:53

So, I just got done with my Wharton essay + Recs (I am developing 80%of my rec material) and was working on my Columbia essay. I thought once the essay is done, the Rec should be a copy paste for the most part. But, what do I see when I open up the Columbia Rec form, 4 aditional qeustions

So eventhough it ended up being a copy-paste-edit for the most part, it did irritate me quite a bit and used an additional day to complete it.

The question is: Did all the folks who did R1 followed the Rec format specified by each school? I hear that there is another option of creating a generic letter and submitting that to every school.

Anyone heard about this? Anyone using the generic option? Pros and Cons of either options?

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25 Nov 2006, 21:01

I think it's OK to provide an outline to remind a recommender about past experiences and to provide a current resume or something like that. I even think it is OK to suggest to a recommender a few points that would help your application, for example asking him/her to write about teamwork or something (truthful of course).

I must agree that I also have a problem when people write their own recommendations. I have a situation where one of my recommenders does not understand English, and has little idea of what business schools look for. So I'll tell her to write about personal experiences and impressions of me in her native language, and then have it translated. I would not actually write the recommendation myself though.

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25 Nov 2006, 21:18

Ok, to clarify, I am providing my recommenders with a draft. They are going to go over it and edit it. Hence, the draft WILL be truthful. The reason of this arrangement is based on my recommenders preference and schedule. Both of them travel 5 days out of the week, and are extemly busy.

So getting back to the orignal question, are people getting their recommendations per the guideline provided by the school, or just a common letter covering the common topics.

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25 Nov 2006, 21:46

DJM,
I have the same question here . I called up couple of schools ( in the 20-30 US ranking ) and they said that they accept generic recommendation. I am not sure if thats a problem with the top 10 schools.
My recommenders are also extremely busy and both are travelling. I would rather have them write a generic recommendation letter than scurrying something sitting at the airport.

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26 Nov 2006, 11:45

soccerfan wrote:

DJM,I have the same question here . I called up couple of schools ( in the 20-30 US ranking ) and they said that they accept generic recommendation. I am not sure if thats a problem with the top 10 schools.My recommenders are also extremely busy and both are travelling. I would rather have them write a generic recommendation letter than scurrying something sitting at the airport.

What do you all think ?

A generic recommendation letter would get you to a generic business school. PERIOD

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26 Nov 2006, 17:24

I think the key distinction is between the recommender writing a generic LOR (not an ideal situation but necessary in some cases) and the applicant writing his/her own generic LOR (unwise and unethical).